Monday, October 24, 2016

PFLP: Jerusalem operation is a natural response to the occupation, reflects continuing intifada

PFLP: Jerusalem operation is a natural response to the occupation, reflects continuing intifada

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said that today’s resistance operation in occupied Jerusalem comes in the context of the ongoing intifada, and is a natural response to the occupation and the attacks of the settlers, and confirms once more the Palestinian position and identity of Jerusalem against the schemes of the occupier to erase Palestinian existence with Judaization plans. The Front expressed its salutes to the martyr Musbah Abu Sbeih, shot by occupation forces during his operation.

The operation expresses that there remains an open conflict between the Palestinian people and the Zionist occupier throughout the land of Palestine, and that all of the collective punishment, mass arrests and brutal attacks will not stop the continuing Palestinian resistance.

The Front emphasizes the importance of sustaining and supporting the ongoing intifada through Palestinian national unity around a program of resistance and strengthening popular organization and struggle toward achieving liberation for the Palestinian people.

Sunday, October 23, 2016

PFLP mourns the passing of Palestinian national leader Comrade Tayseer Qubaa

PFLP mourns the passing of Palestinian national leader Comrade Tayseer Qubaa

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine mourns with great sorrow and grief its comrade and leader Tayseer Qubaa, who passed away on July 21 in the hospital in Amman, Jordan, at the age of 78.

With the departure of “Abu Fares,” the Front has lost one of its historical leaders and the Palestinian national movement has lost a tribune who always took up the cause of his people and his homeland to all the corners of the world.

Comrade Tayseer Qubaa was born on August 20, 1938 in the city of Qalqilya. From his childhood, he was conscious of the nature of the Zionist project erected on the land of Palestine in 1948, by the crimes of murder, destruction and dispossession of the Palestinian people. The impact of this crystallized his early consciousness of the need to resist this entity, which led him to join the ranks of the Arab Nationalist Movement and participate actively in the Palestinian student movement in Syria, before he was arrested after Syria’s separation from Egypt in 1961, and deported to Egypt.

Comrade Tayseer continued his activities in the ANM and its leadership in Egypt, and in the Palestinian student movement, where history will record his senior leadership role as head of the union as he worked for years to represent the Palestinian cause and people in various forums even before the creation of the PLO, as well as organizing Palestinian students and youth in Gaza, promoting cultural work, training, and upholding the rights of the Palestinian people throughout historic Palestine.

Following the Naksah of June 1967, Comrade Tayseer Qubaa returned to resist the Zionist entity from inside the occupied homeland, where he entered to help organize the resistance and its leadership. He was subsequently arrested in Jerusalem and spent nearly three years in prison. His arrest led to international reactions in the student and youth movements and organizations around the world, and his case was a victory for the cause of the Palestinian people and their just struggle.

Comrade Tayseer held many roles in the Front and at Palestinian and Arab national levels. He has been a member of the Central Committee and the Political Bureau, and engaged in organizational, political, and mobilization tasks in the Front. At the national level, he participated in the first conference of the Palestinian National Council in Jerusalem in 1964. He was also elected a member of the Executive Committee of the PLO and served as a member of the Central Council for many years. He was the first deputy chair of the Palestinian National Council from 1988 until his death. He represented Palestine in many Arab and international events and meetings, and in Arab, African and international parliaments, where he held various leadership positions.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine pledges to our comrade Tayseer Qubaa to continue to struggle until we achieve the goals of our people to be free of occupation and colonization and achieve self-determination and national liberation.

Rest well, Comrade Abu Fares, we pledge to you and your friends and comrades that we will continue the march to victory.

Political Bureau
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
July 21, 2016

Saturday, October 22, 2016

PFLP: Continued normalization meetings between the Saudi regime and Zionist entity threaten the region

PFLP: Continued normalization meetings between the Saudi regime and Zionist entity threaten the region

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine strongly condemned the continued normalization meetings between the Saudi regime and the Zionist entity, the latest of which was a Saudi delegation to the Zionist state in the presence of retired General Anwar Eshki and Saudi businessmen.

The Front noted that these meetings would not take place without a green light from the official Saudi authorities, noting the danger and harm to the national cause and the interests of the Arab people at the hands of Saudi officialdom, which is working to redirect and alter the character and compass of the struggle in the region.

The Front added that the recurring nature of these meetings indicates a high level of coordination between the Saudi regime, the Zionist entity, and the United States administration in the destruction of the region, keeping it burning and torn apart by sectarian and confessional conflicts, terror, and the takfiri groups funded and fueled by Saudi Arabia and the West.

The Front also emphasized that the continuation of these meetings provides cover and assistance to the occupation in its oppression of the Palestinian people and gives a veneer of legitimacy to its massive and ongoing crimes. They also continue to the normalization with the Zionist entity as a “fact on the ground” in the region, working to promote the role of the occupation state in the region and increase its influence. 

The Front denounced the participation of a Palestinian official in these normalization meetings, emphasizing that there are some in the monopolistic Palestinian leadership who do not want to leave the framework of negotiations, normalization and meetings with the Zionist entity. This must be confronted with a popular response and clear Palestinian stand to confront this corrosion that eats away at our national liberation struggle.

Barakat: Bilal Kayed represents a Palestinian national experience and a global liberation struggle

Barakat: Bilal Kayed represents a Palestinian national experience and a global liberation struggle

As students around the world gathered and protested for freedom for imprisoned leader Comrade Bilal Kayed, on hunger strike in his battle for freedom since June 15, Palestinian leftist writer Comrade Khaled Barakat noted that “Comrade Bilal Kayed is still chained to his bed, with deteriorating health. He has lost his vision for several hours at a time and suffers excruciating pain. Still, despite refusing anything but water for over 40 days, he maintains a very high spirit and level of determination for victory.”

“The Israelis should not expect Palestinians to accept this attack on Bilal, after jailing him for 14 and a half years. You cannot simply send them to detention without charge and expect this to pass without a battle. The entire Palestinian prisoners’ movement, with all of its political backgrounds and affiliations, have stood in unity behind Comrade Kayed because they know that he is entering this confrontation on behalf of every Palestinian struggler, whether he or she is in prison or not,” said Barakat.

“But why did Israel do this? The reason Israel sent Comrade Kayed to administrative detention after 14 and a half years of imprisonment is, simply, one more attempt to break his clearly unbroken will. He is so committed to one single task and has lived it throughout his sentence: defending the prisoners and their rights. He is known for this among his fellow prisoners, and he is loved for this among the Palestinian people,” said Barakat. “The trust he enjoys from the prisoners’ movement is based on this very important fact.”

Barakat continued, recalling Kayed’s life experience: “It is extremely important to draw lessons from the experience of Comrade Bilal Kayed. He was arrested when he was a young Palestinian man. He was a refrigeration technician, a worker who graduated from the Qalandia technical institute. When the second Intifada broke out, the PFLP made a decision to temporarily join the Palestinian national security forces in order to build the experience and training of the military wing of the Front, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades. Some of the comrades of the Front were asked to join and became wanted by the Israelis, like Bilal,” Barakat said. “He worked closely with the leader Mahmoud Abu Hanoud of the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, who later was assassinated by Israel, shortly before Bilal was arrested.”

“We must remember that Bilal is the son of a freedom fighter; his father has a very similar history to Bilal. He was part of the Jordanian forces when he left to fight with the Palestinian revolution in Lebanon. In fact, Bilal was born in Syria on Noveber 30, 1981, and went to Palestine in the mid-1990s. Bilal had the right to be in the West Bank as his father and mother are Palestinians from the West Bank, even under the occupation law,” said Barakat. “The reason we are providing this background information is to say that, in a way, Bilal Kayed represents a Palestinian national experience, the history and struggles of the Palestinian people in diaspora and inside Palestine.”

“Bilal Kayed is now on hunger strike for 42 days. This is, however, far from the first time that he engaged in – or led – a hunger strike, nor is it the first time that he was punished with isolation. Throughout his time in prison, he was attacked frequently by guards and targeted by the prison authority for his constant advocacy for the prisoners and their collective rights, as Palestinian political prisoners, prisoners of freedom and the liberation movement,” Barakat said.

“He used his time in prison wisely. He educated himself; he speaks four languages. He entered academic courses as a student. Each one of these things that he achieved was part of a battle and accompanied with difficulties, challenges, and obstacles on the part of the prison administration,” Barakat noted. “Throughout his imprisonment, he was part of every battle of the prisoners for freedom. This is why Bilal has the respect and the trust of all of his comrades, inside and outside prison.”

“Today, we call on all of the revolutionaries of the world to stand up and express their solidarity with Bilal Kayed. We must mobilize in all social sectors, and continue to work in the labor movement, the student movement, LGBT movements, and engage in the struggle not only for Bilal Kayed but for all Palestinian political prisoners as the cause of freedom,” said Barakat. “It is particularly crucial that we link the movement to boycott Israel with the struggle of the Palestinian prisoners and the Palestinian resistance.”

Barakat noted that “Israel enjoys full official impunity with the avid support of imperialist powers on the international level. Like all forces and powers, however, it can be subject and held accountable to a higher pressure and power – the people, mobilized, at a global level, especially when this solidarity comes from within the ‘belly of the beast.’ We are confident that Comrade Bilal Kayed will be victorious. It is all of our obligation to struggle mightily to ensure that this is the case, not only for Bilal, but for every Palestinian struggler for freedom.”

PFLP emphasizes “no confidence” in Arab summit in Mauritania

PFLP emphasizes “no confidence” in Arab summit in Mauritania

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine affirmed that it has no confidence in the results of the 27th Arab Summit meeting held yesterday in the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott, in response to the final statement of the summit. This statement was no more than a carbon copy of the resolutions of the Arab summits in recent years and reflects the situation of the Arab League, which long ago lost the Arab peoples’ confidence as a means to seriously express their aspirations.

The Front noted that there is no benefit from Arab conferences or summits if they have lost the central cause and credibility in defending the interests of the Arab nation, and as long as the Arab regimes are in control of the results of these summits, issuing decisions in order to serve the agendas of regimes while feeding the fire of sectarian strife in the region while redirecting the compass away from the central conflict.

The Front considered that the Arab League as it now stands bears little to no resemblance to the original vision of the Egyptian leader Jamal Abdel Nasser, and is fundamentally incapable of addressing the Arab situation or supporting the Palestinian cause and the struggle of our people against the occupation. It views the item on the Palestinian cause as a call to frequent verbal speeches that neither provide nor delay anything and do nothing to contribute to addressing the positions of some Arab states who have participated in the erasure of the Palestinian cause as a primary and central issue on the agenda of Arab summits, placing it instead as a secondary concern.

The Front expressed its rejection of the final statement’s support for French efforts to convene a so-called international peace conference, noting that the French initiative does not provide a minimum of Palestinian rights and seeks to impose an alternate international reference below the level of international law and UN resolutions, which stipulate the rights of our people to return, self-determination, and an independent, sovereign state.

The Front noted with amazement the statement’s words on the importance of joint action and unity of purpose, continuing the continuing and dedicated efforts of some Arab regimes to create a state of instability and threaten any joint Arab front or unity of purpose that is so necessary in order to resist the Zionist enemy and confront its racist and fascist nature and policies.

The Front called upon the Arab peoples, organizations, trade unions, and student movements to develop a popular movement and unity parallel and alternative to these structures that works to re-orient the Arab role toward the Arab issues, particularly the Palestinian cause. The Arab nation is subjected to a state of destruction and plunder 100 years after the Sykes-Picot project of colonial division and the Balfour declaration, calling for the formulation of a popular Arab strategy for confrontation and struggle.

PFLP salutes the martyr and resistance struggler Mohammed al-Faqih


The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine praised the heroic battle of the resistance struggler, Mohammed al-Faqih, which lasted for hours and held off the occupation forces despite their numbers and military machine, directing sincere condolences to the Palestinian people on the martyrdom of this resistance struggle.

The Front emphasized that the martyr Mohammed al-Faqih belongs to a generation of resistance and refusal to meekly accept the status quo imposed by the Zionist occupation and its policy of terror, home demolitions, and massacres, amid Arab and international silence. The Front urged the continuing of his path of resistance, noting that the continued sacrifice of Palestinian youth confirms that the resistance is rooted in the hearts and minds of the Palestinian people and cannot be erased or repressed by the terror of the occupier.

The Front confirmed that this heroic battle comes in response to all those who would undermine resistance, the lackeys of reactionary Arab regimes and the patrons of normalization. This hero continued to resist, armed with will, determination, and conviction, at a time when these regimes stockpile tanks, planes, and weaponry used only to kill the women, children and elders of the Arab peoples.

The resistance of the Palestinian people continues, in open confrontation with the criminal enemy. We recall and salute the resisters, Moataz Hijazi, Moataz Washahe, and Mohammed al-Faqih, and all the heroes of our people, who remain torches illuminating the path to liberation and return.

PFLP salutes the victory of Comrade Bilal Kayed

PFLP salutes the victory of Comrade Bilal Kayed

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine announced the suspension of the hunger strike of Comrade Bilal Kayed after reaching an agreement to set the end date of his detention without renewal, end his isolation and allow him family visits.

The Front states that this is a victory for Comrade Bilal and his comrades and the prisoners’ movement and a significant achievement for the Palestinian people and a defeat for the Zionist jailer, and the failure of their attempts to suppress Comrade Bilal and subject him to indefinite detention.

The Front urges the masses of the Palestinian people inside and outside Palestine to take to the streets and squares to celebrate this victory and achievement, including in Gaza City in the Square of the Unknown Soldier on Thursday at 11 am, and in Ramallah at the Clock Tower on Thursday at 11 am to 1 pm.

The Front noted that the details of the agreement will be announced tomorrow and analyze the implications of the victory of Comrade Bilal in a comprehensive statement.

October 17: Resistance continues on anniversary of historic operation

October 17: Resistance continues on anniversary of historic operation

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine commemorates with pride the 15th anniversary of the October 17 operation, in which four Palestinian fighters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, successfully targeted and assassinated Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi at the Regency Hotel in Jerusalem on October 17, 2001. Zeevi, an ultra-right Zionist extremist, was famed for his advocacy of the complete ethnic cleansing and “transfer” of the Palestinian people. The PFLP operation against Zeevi was carried out in retaliation for the assassination of Comrade Abu Ali Mustafa, the General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, on August 27, 2001 by occupation forces, who fired a US-made missile from a helicopter into the window of his Ramallah office. The heroes of October 17: Ahed Abu Ghoulmeh, Majdi Rimawi, Mohammed Rimawi, Hamdi Qur’an and Basil al-Asmar, are today in Zionist prisons continuing their struggle and confrontation against the occupier.

As we mark this anniversary of struggle with a vow of continued resistance until the liberation of Palestine and its people, we re-publish two pieces on October 17, its history and its meaning in the struggle below:


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October 17 and Beyond – An Interview with Comrade Khalil Maqdesi (original link)

The following dialogue was conducted for this website with Comrade Khalil Maqdesi by Comrade Rayya Amin on October 17, 2008. Comrade Maqdesi covers a broad range of critical topics, from the legacy of October 17, to the Palestinian resistance, to the future of Palestinian national unity in an era of “negotiations” and “security cooperation,” in this wide-ranging and penetrating discussion of the important issues facing the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian national liberation movement today.

Rayya Amin: Today marks the seventh anniversary of the October 17 heroic operation against the racist Zionist tourism minister, Rehavam Ze’evi, in response to the assassination of General Secretary Abu Ali Mustafa by a U.S.-made missile fired from a helicopter into his office by the occupation army. Several days ago, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades made statements about the current situation, where Palestinians in Akka are facing an ongoing assault from racist Zionists, and standing steadfast in the face of house burnings, stonings, beatings and repeated calls for their “transfer” – invoking al-Nakba, as well as Ze’evi’s infamous campaigns. The Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades statement particularly noted the responsibility of Avigdor Lieberman, an infamous advocate of transfer and notorious racist, and warned that if these events do not stop, Lieberman will face the same fate as Ze’evi. This statement – paying tribute to the resistance and steadfastness of our people in our occupied homeland of 1948 – also made clear the unity of all of our people, and that the operation of October 17 was not an isolated heroic act but part of an ongoing and historic struggle. On this anniversary, how do you envision our struggle today?

Khalil Maqdesi: Our understanding, in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, of our enemy and of our conflict with this enemy, Israel, is very clear. We view Israel as a colonial settler project/state backed and fully supported by imperialist powers, particularly the United States. This state is illegitimate and will always be illegitimate, as it has been based on the oppression and suffering of our people for the past sixty years. The PFLP cannot see any reconciliation or acceptance of this state, of any acceptance of racism, colonialism, Zionism and the settler project in Palestine.

We also do not view the situation as a Palestinian – Israeli conflict only, although this is central. It is also an Arab – Israeli conflict, and international conflict. Take, for example, the relationship of Iran or Venezuela with Israel; it is an international conflict. Israel belongs to one camp – the camp of imperialism – against all progressive forces in the world and against all forces who resist imperialism. Israel is waging war against all Arab nations – its aggression has reached the shores of Tunisia. There is not one Arab country that has not faced the onslaught of Zionist aggression, directly or indirectly, over the years. The fact that Arab reactionary regimes, particularly those in Egypt an Jordan, have engaged in ‘peace agreements’ and the like, the fact that these reactionary regimes have attempted to impose normalization with this illegitimate state upon our people, does nothing to change the fundamental nature of the relationship between the Arab people and the colonial settler project. These regimes are illegitimate and unelected and do not speak for the people.

On the other hand, we see another example that does represent our people. We can see clearly, on the ground, that resistance works. We saw that in Lebanon, we are seeing that in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and in Palestine. Resistance works. Submission to Israeli and American conditions, on the other hand, while fooling oneself under an illusion of peace, is a road to nowhere. We have seen this throughout the past fifteen years of the so-called “peace process” of Oslo and beyond, that this is a dead-end road for our people and our cause.

Rayya Amin: This is an important point that you mention. Recently we have been seeing a lot of articles and really, propaganda from the Zionist press, aimed at demoralizing the resistance by promoting the industry of “security cooperation” between Palestinian forces and the Zionist state. These articles have been really disgusting, with Palestinian “security” commanders arranging for funding, arms, and training from U.S. CIA and similar entities and the occupation army. It’s really difficult to see this as anything other than an attempt to forcibly push our people down this fruitless path of a so-called “peace process” and turn Palestinians into the front-line forces suppressing the resistance of our own people.

Khalil Maqdesi: First of all, this security cooperation is met with mass popular condemnation by our people in Palestine and in exile. It was one of the major objects of the Oslo accords – to turn Palestinian forces into guards for the occupation. Furthermore, it enhances and deepens the disunity in Palestinian society and raises the level of military oppression and aggression by the police forces against the resistance. We have seen the actions of the security forces against journalists, writers, trade unionists and other popular activists, and we have witnessed executions like that last week in Jericho prison. We in the PFLP have warned in the path that the road of this so-called “security cooperation” will lead to the authority becoming a tool in the hands of occupation. Those who supported Oslo argued otherwise, saying that this is a necessary step towards building a Palestinian state. We saw otherwise – this is not building a Palestinian state and is in fact contrary to democratic process and values and has racked up countless violations against our people.
It deceives and transmits a false message about the relationship of the Palestinian people with Israel and with these forces, as if there is some form of sovereignty or a Palestinian state. These police operate at the permission and pleasure of the occupation and receive permission in order to attack Palestinians. Some of these forces in the leadership of the security forces are quite clearly collaborators with the occupation, when they receive arms, funds and training from the occupier, they are collaborators akin to the South Lebanon Army, to UNITA in Angola, to the Contras in Nicaragua. There is always an attempt to create a local tool by the colonizers for their work.

This is also part of the so-called “war on terror” being waged by U.S. imperialism, and an attempt to bring a Palestinian force into this regional “war,” in direct confrontation with the Palestinian resistance.

We have also seen a transformation of our cause into “security” questions. Political and civil issues have been handled by Egyptian, Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli intelligence services – not by civil or political institutions, including our national dialogue. They want to turn the question of Palestine into a “security issue,” something that clearly and definitely serves the strategic goals of Israel and the United States.

Rayya Amin: Also, the security cooperation and the arming and training of this collaborator force by the U.S. and Israel is very much clearly part of the plans of these parties to divide our people and create disunity. The operation of these “security cooperation” forces does nothing to provide security for Palestinians – that would be providing security against the occupier, not working with the occupier against our people and our resistanc. The attempts to transform our national cause into a question of “security” and the institutions of “security” and “authority” rather than institutions of a national liberation movement can do nothing but cause division and undermine the fundamental framework of our national cause and national unity, that is based on our unity in struggle against the occupier.

Khalil Maqdesi: It is worth noting here, also, however, one of the false illusions about the past before the Oslo era – the idea that the Palestinian national liberation movement and the Palestine Liberation Organization were democratic institutions. In fact, they were not, and because of that, we have come to Oslo. The reason we are here is because of our past, because of things that have come before and policies that were conducted in the past. It is also worthwhile to state that there are no clean hands in this past, in terms of democracy, and we must learn these lessons moving forward.

The tools that have come before Oslo have led to this point, and we must be honest about that. Abu Mazen, Abu Ala’a, these forces who signed Oslo – are those that corrupted the PLO. There is no democratic process of building an authority under occupation. The alternative, however, is to rebuild our institutions not as authorities in league with the occupation, but to reclaim the potential of the PLO as the representative and unifying structure for our people, our cause, our national liberation movement.

Rayya Amin: Speaking of the PLO, the PLO at its best has always stood as a symbol of national unity and national consensus of the Palestinian people. Today, however, we are looking back on 15 years of Oslo, following a campaign to replace the PLO with an authority that exists in cooperation with the occupation and whose institutions have been decimated, and yet does not embrace the spectrum of the forces that comprise our national liberation movement. We’ve seen agreements, like the Cairo Declaration, to rebuild the PLO and make it inclusive, but the real division has only worsened since then. How can we revitalize and rebuild the PLO, and where are we going in the campaign to reassert our national unity?

Khalil Maqdesi: We must end the Oslo process in its entirety. We in the PFLP see that there is a direct connection between the continuation of the negotiations and Palestinian internal disunity. We have also seen the Palestinian leadership of the PA undermining the PLO itself and attempts to fragment the Palestinian people itself, people in the West Bank from Gaza from our people in exile from our people in 48.

Our national unity must be based on our national constants only. For example when Abu Mazen declared to the media his willingness to undermine our fundamental right to return, this only deepens the disunity. We also see that building national unity requires real political will not only on the part of the factions but also popular institutions to take their place and uphold their responsibilities to build national unity from the streets and the grassroots up. when people are confronting their enemy and building their society from the ground up, their institutions and their economic autonomy, national unity is strengthened. There is a clear and honorable example of Palestinian national unity in the prisons of the occupation. Despite all of the attempts of the occupation to fracture the Palestinian prisoners, they have failed and the prisoners are a shining example of national unity in action in confrontation of the occupation.

It is also important that national unity be in the interests of the popular classes of our Palestinian people – against all exploitation and oppression. National unity does not just mean unity of the political forces, but must involve and include all sectors of society – students, women, trade unionists. We cannot discuss national unity without a real discussion of the sectors of our society, their institutions, and the importance of strengthening the relationships and joint programs of struggle against the occupation and the liquidation of the Palestinian cause. This strengthens national unity on the ground.

RA: This is a really essential point. The reason national unity has been under attack by Israel and the United States is because it is so important for our people. The U.S., Israel, the so-called “Quartet”, try to redefine our national unity with conditions and terms that are based on a Palestinian identity that is acceptable to the enemy, and actually present only a path to disunity and division. There is no national unity to be found in these conditions imposed from outside. The point you raise, on the other hand, that national unity is among our people, and it is against the occupation rather than in accordance to its terms – is the only path to meaningful national unity, rather than empty phrases.

KM: National unity is a strategic necessity for victory. The enemy is pushing to create multiple Palestinian discourses, for the benefit of Israel.

National unity is not also a vague slogan, without meaning or implementation. Inside our institutions, schools, and organizations, it has to be a culture that political parties push for and enhance, rather than undermine. This is something we have to build within Palestine and also in exile, among our people and our national institutions – it is our responsibility as political parties.

RA: It is worth noting that national unity is not Palestinian Authority unity, it is Palestinian national unity. These are 2 different things.

So often the discussion of Palestinian national unity is directed as if the question is how to arrange the seats or cabinet members of the Authority, but this does little to address the real question of national unity in our struggle. I want to raise the question – how do you see the dialogue in cairo as being part of building national unity? How is it something other than just another pointless charade?

KM: Yes, we have always called for a comprehensive national dialogue. We have an understanding of this dialogue. First of all, it must come without preconditions, and it must address the real issues – the question of strengthening the Palestinian resistance, Palestinian intitutions, the Palestine Liberation Organization, the Palestinian National Council, the rebuilding of our mass organizations and unions, and dealing politically with the challenges that we face today – the Wall in the West Bank, the siege on Gaza, the struggle for freedom of 11000 Palestinian prisoners, the settlements, the attacks on our people in 48, the attempts to liquidate the right of return. These are all issues of common struggle that we must face collectively. We must also face that the alternative to this comprehensive, open dialogue is division and nothing else. We have seen that the agreement between Fateh and Hamas which took place in Mecca failed miserably because it was not based on national assurance and popular assurance but rather merely on dividing seats and assigning positions.

We must also be patient and acknowledge that, like all nations, we have different political views among our people, within our national consensus. Not all division and discussion or disagreement or contradiction is negative. On the contrary, our national institutions can be a democratic place where these issues are addressed and resolved in a progressive and democratic manner as part of our revolution.

RA: Looking at my bookshelf, I see books published by the Palestine Research Center – by the PLO – in the 1970s, highlighting the various positions of the resistance, of the factions, of the sectors of the revolution. This was not unhealthy or divisive. On the contrary, it reflected a vibrant revolutionary discourse and a living movement. I think it is critical that we look toward examining this in a positive light and look at national unity as unity on our core principles, firm adherence to our national rights, unity in our resistance and in confrontation of the occupation, but that includes as a necessary condition ongoing political discussion and struggle. That is a healthy part of a revolutionary movement. It is the opposite of this bickering over positions and authority that has done so much harm to our people.

KM: In the past, when this rose to the level of armed disagreement, it was known as “the dialogue with guns,” and it came to an end, it was stopped, because our people demanded it. Now, our people – our institutions, popular organizations, civil society – must be heard very loudly and very clearly, from the level of the streets and the grassroots up, demanding meaningful national unity and an end to the division. This is the mechanism that can truly bring this division to a much-needed end.

RA: The General Secretary, Abu Ghassan (Ahmad Sa’adat), is currently continuing to face the occupation courts. It should be noted that Abu Ghassan’s case also is deeply and directly related to these issues – he was a prisoner of the Palestinian Authority for years, before he was kidnapped by the occupation forces. The occupation illegitimate courts have postponed his trial yet again, this time to November 25, and it is clear that they want to keep dragging this out for as extended a time as possible. There have been a number of events around the world – in Syria, in Canada and elsewhere – focusing on his case, and these are very important initiatives.

KM: Well, I think one of the things that needs to be said about Abu Ghassan’s case is that obviously the occupation wishes to continue this case forever. It is a battle between the General Secretary and the illegitimate courts. They are trying to pressure Comrade Ahmad on a personal level as well as to pressure the PFLP, denying him family visits, transferring him, holding him in isolation and solitary confinement, for example. The very first thing we must understand that he is a hostage and must be liberated. The prisoners are 11,000 hostages and the occupation is seeking to use them to pressure our people everywhere, to try to extract concessions in order to free these hostages.

The conditions of the prisoners and of the national leadership among the prisoners are really quite harrowing, and the daily oppression directed against the prisoners has been continually increasing. We’ve seen them trying to force Guantanamo clothing – the infamous orange jumpsuits – upon our prisoners, and Abu Ghassan has played a leading role, in the prisoners’ rejection of this. Abu Ghassan’s case symbolizes the war against the resistance and the entire Palestinian people, while the international community is silent.

RA: They are worse than silent. The U.S. and Britain are directly culpable for his imprisonment – they guarded his illegal imprisonment for four years, and arranged in advance to vacate their posts to allow for his kidnapping in the attack on Jericho prison by the occupation forces.

KM: Every time they take him to the court, he refuses to recognize it and its illegitimate nature, but instead uses it as a soapbox to call for upholding our Palestinian constants and the brotherhood and sisterhood of all of our people, and for our national unity. His clarity exposes the occupation and its crimes and the failure of its policies and the entire Zionist project in Palestine, and upholds the achievements of the Intifada. They are continually restricting his personal situation so that even his wife and children cannot visit him – they have been continually denied visits since March. They want to pressure him and silence this vital, symbolic and critical voice. The only link he has to the outside world is through his attorneys.

His steadfastness is a symbol of all Palestinian prisoners and, it is worth noting that he is a leader among the prisoners as well. He has always been a leader in the prisoner movement, in his past experiences in prison, and now he plays a major role in the struggle inside the prisons.

RA: You raise an important point about Abu Ghassan’s speeches before the court – you mention the achievements of the Intifada, this second Intifada. There are many who degrade this intifada, and say it has failed, or accomplished little to nothing, or even harmed our people and our cause, and it is quite refreshing to hear, instead, about upholding the achievements of the intifada, particularly when it has become a trend to dismiss this intifada rather than to celebrate it.

KM: The first achievement of this Intifada is that it proved, conclusively, the utter failure of the Oslo process. It exposed the bankruptcy of the “peace process” and made clear that it has been nothing more than a charade based on the continuing abrogation of Palestinian national rights. It made clear that our core rights – our right to return, our right to self-determination, our right to be free of occupation – were nowhere to be found in the Oslo process, and that our people were not willing to accept this and will continue to demand these rights until victory.

It is also key to note that this intifada strengthened the military resistance inside Palestine in such a way as has never been seen before, which is an enormous accomplishment of our people and our resistance.

Furthermore, this Intifada put Israel in the position of being forced to constantly confront the issue of the nature of the Israeli state and raised these critical questions: What is the nature of Israel, its racist, colonial, illegitimate nature? How can there be any solution in the face of this racist state? How can such a state exist? And it faces these questions and this discourse now, because of the resistance and steadfastness of the Palestinian people in this Intifada, in the face of this aggression. This intifada has made quite clear two sides of the equation – Palestinian steadfastness and suffering and Israeli occupation and oppression. Both point to the fundamental issue of what is Israel. This intifada has exposed this question of the world, raised it among intellectuals and in the academy. The emergence of this discourse that challenges the Zionist project and its illegitimacy in our homeland, the reason this is a topic of debate and discussion now, is because of the achievements of the Intifada and the sacrifices of our people.

RA: There is now an attempt almost to set the clock back, and to erase the last eight years, to instead speak of a path of endless “negotiations” leading nowhere, of “final status agreements” and a “peace process” that seems to have no connection to reality. Even the “security cooperation” harkens back to the conditions of Oslo, and the implementation of the so-called “Roadmap” designed by the U.S. – only, of course, against our Palestinian people. –

KM: Israel is given a green light – all of what it did, its crimes against our people, are ignored, and it acts as if it is a “peace partner” while building settlements, arresting and killing our people and engaging in a daily siege and occupation. The process of security cooperation goes hand in hand with the negotiations – one cannot be separated from the other, as the whole intention of the “peace process” is to find a Palestinian governance to act on behalf of the occupier.

In fact, Israel has practiced U.S. policy on a regional scale throughout the Intifada, from the slogan of “harboring terrorism” to the assassination of the first ranks of the leadership of our people – from Yasser Arafat, to Abu Ali Mustafa, to Sheikh Yassin, to Fathi Shiqaqi and hundreds of others. The Palestinian leadership cannot blame the intifada for their failures – when they blame the intifada, they are actually blaming the people. When Abu Mazen, or the PA leadership, or the Fayyad regime blames the intifada, they blame the people, the martyrs, and the prisoners. Indeed, they have shown little concern for the prisoners other than as yet another issue in the so-called “negotiations.” It is worth pointing out that the Authority created this situation for Abu Ghassan when they imprisoned him in Jericho and allowed him to be held under U.S. and British guards, and today – there is no statement of solidarity with him.

RA: It is adopting the argument of the occupation that the people are at fault for our own oppression because we continue to resist. And returning to the question of resistance, and highlighting the point that you have made about the war of assassinations against our people and particularly against the front ranks of our leadership, how do you assess today October 17 and its lessons?

KM: The lesson of October 17 is that the occupier must learn that for its actions, there will be consequences and repercussions. We are as Palestinians and in the Popular Front, to praise the heroic quality, strategic and skilled ability and will of our resistance, and the firmness of the decision-making and action by political leaders and the heroes of the Wadie Haddad Group who executed the operation, in which the infamous racist Zionist tourism minister and advocate of the “transfer” of our people, Rehavam Ze’evi, was killed by the arms and the awareness of fighters from the PFLP, coming in response to the assassination of our great leader Abu Ali Mustafa.

However, the official Palestinian leadership did not succeed in taking the message of October 17 – that there is no end to the assassinations of our leaders and our people carried out by the enemy forces, without just such strategic decisions that extract a high cost from the enemy but also require great steadfastness and political will on behalf of our leadership, who are subject to great risk. It is regrettable that the operation of October 17, though an act of valor, accuracy and accomplishment, ramians an orphan. We have not achieved the collective goal of the Palestinian resistance, in all of its visions and currents, in this long battle with a vicious and strong enemy.

We are discussing a mere act of a “culture of revenge.” Rather, we are discussing a concrete and strategic decision to make it clear to the enemy that there is a distinct price to be paid for the campaign of assassination and sixty years of crimes against our people, and that we will simply not allow this to continue without creating a situation in which it is very difficult for the occupier to continue its crimes.

It is no secret that the Front has and will make further attempts to liquidate such symbols of the Zionist enemy. Even attempts that are not fully successful exert pressure upon the enemy. However, for the Front to continue along this difficult path of struggle means that dealing with this in the resistance, the logic of force and deterrence, and utilizing October 17 as a model, must become a culture of all of the resistance forces, and not just a heroic tale of glory that speaks to our emotions. October 17 is a symbol of heroism, yes, but it is also a difficult yet necessary strategic action and path for our resistance. The enemy knows well that the conflict between it and the Front did not begin with the assassination of Abu Ali Mustafa, nor with October 17. There is no need for a narrative of confrontations, but only to point out that we will meet with this enemy only in the field of confrontation.

Everyone knows the lesson – that the liquidation of the personality is not nearly so important as the impact of the liquidation of the role of that individual and the school and the trend that he represents. Comrade Abu Ali Mustafa was well-known to the Zionist enemy for his positions, his commitment and his leadership in the Palestinian arena, and he was known to face the daily threat of assassination because of who and what he represented, stood for and lived. They killed him, and the Front responded by killing the one who represented the naked and ugly face of Zionist racism – the school and the trend of the occupier.

At the end, October 17 is a shining example – a star on the path of Palestinian resistance toward victory.

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October 17: The heroic operation (original link)

The following summary of the operation of October 17, 2001 was prepared by the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades. 

Following the assassination of General Secretary Comrade Abu Ali Mustafa on August 29, 2001, the fighters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine sought an effective and daring response. The response decided upon was difficult and full of danger, but the fighters had a strong will in their hearts and a dedication and willingness to sacrifice for Abu Ali Mustafa and the Palestinian revolution.

On Monday afternoon, October 15, Comrades Hamdi Qur’an and Basel Al-Asmar came to the Hyatt Regency hotel in East Jerusalem, carrying with them a small bag containing two guns with silencers.

They went to the reception desk, where Basel al-Asmar gave the desk clerk an Israeli blue identity card in the name of Samer Shehada, one of the group assisting the operation. They paid their room bill and obtained the keys for their hotel room, located on the third floor. Once they arrived, they toured the hotel completely in order to learn its security systems, emergency doors, elevators, and the patterns of customer traffic in the sitting room and other public areas. They went to the eighth floor, where they knew the notorious racist extremist minister Rehavam Ze’evi was staying, Room 816, in order to fully understand the surrounding area and prepare for the operation.

On Tuesday, October 16, they left the hotel in the morning and returned in the afternoon, moving to the fifth floor, three floors away from Ze’evi’s room.

Outside the hotel, the group assisting the operation continued their work on logistics: they rented two cars from Vet Vonto auto rental, including one Kia automobile, hired in the name of Mustafa al-Rimawi from Beit Rima, a small and simple car for rescue and guard, and one Fiat truck. Comrade Mohammad Rimawi hid a Scorpion machine gun inside the Kia. Later in the afternoon, they traveled in the car, practicing their escape route, and scouting other potential withdrawal routes to be used if necessary. The rest of the team working on the operation prepared the apartment at which the fighters would hide following the operation, at the house of Saleh Elwy in Al-Ezareia.

Other comrades hid guns, bombs, explosives and other military weapons, in order to use them in case of an emergency, the failure of the operation or any other unforeseen difficulties. They prepared for open confrontation in east Jerusalem if necessary.

On Wednesday morning, October 17, comrades Hamdi and Basel awakened early and re-checked their weapons before heading to the hotel dining room, where they watched Ze’evi and his family eating breakfast. Hamdi and Basel went to the eighth floor to wait for Ze’evi’s return to his hotel room. After 7 a.m., Ze’evi left the dining room and headed to his hotel room to retrieve his bag. Hamdi called out to him with his nickname, “Ghandi!”

This was the last word he heard, from the mouth of this great fighter of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Ze’eviturned his back on Hamdi, who shot three bullets from his gun, bullets full of the anger and pain of the entire Palestinian people.

This was the first time a Zionist minister had been killed by the forces of the Palestinian revolution, at the hand of the PFLP. After being certain of Ze’evi’s death, Hamdi and Basel took the elevator to the ground floor and quickly left the hotel in the Fiat. Coincidentally, on the elevator, they met Ozi Dayan, who later held a high position of responsibility in the ranks of Israeli security, but they deceived him successfuly and avoided any suspicion. Mohammed al-Rimawi and Saleh Karan traveled in the other car, the Kia, but unfortunately the car broke down in the hotel parking lot. They left the car there, still containing the gun, and took a taxi near the apartment they had prepared at a hideout. Basel and Hamdi also returned securely to their safe houses to deliver their statements of the victory of the operation and the avenging of the assassination of Abu Ali Mustafa.

Comrades Mohammed and Saleh were arrested after pursuit by the Zionist intelligence, and the other comrades involved in the operation hid and protected themselves from the Zionist military, which was, at the time, attacking all of the cities, towns, and villages in the West Bank. The comrades involved in the operation continued to hide successfully from the Zionist intelligence but were seized by the Palestinian Authority “Security forces” under Tawfiq Tirawi in Nablus and Ramallah in February 2002 – Ahed Ghoulmeh, member of the Central Committee who the Zionists described as the leader of the PFLP fighters in the West Bank; Majdi Rimawi, the planner of the operation, and Hamdi Qur’an and Basel al-Asmar, who carried out the operation.

These four men were held by the PA, alongside the General Secretary of the PFLP, Ahmad Sa’adat, in the Muqata’, where they were convicted by a hastily called military court under Israeli threat, and contrary to all Palestinian law. Comrade Hamdi was sentenced to 18 years, Basil to 12 years, Majdi to 8 years, and Ahed to 1 year in PA prison. Under an agreement with Israel, the United States and Britain, the comrades were sent to Jericho prison, alongside Comrade Leader Sa’adat (who had never been tried or convicted), where they were held by the PA under US and British guard until the Zionist military siege of Jericho prison on March 14, 2006.

The comrades were then tried once more in the illegitimate military courts of the occupier; Hamdi was sentenced to two life sentences plus 100 years; Basel to one life sentence plus 20 years; Majdi to one life sentence plus 80 years; and Ahed to a life sentence plus five years. They stand alongside their fellow Palestinian prisoners as brave and proud fighters, heroes of the PFLP and the entire Palestinian people, whose acts of heroism and courage inspire us all to continue to struggle and fight on the path of liberation.

Full transcript: Classic video interview with Comrade Ghassan Kanafani re-surfaces


A classic English-language interview of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine leader, Al-Hadaf founder and editor and renowned Palestinian writer, novelist and artist, creative thinker of the Palestinian revolution, Comrade Ghassan Kanafani, has resurfaced in recent days.

The video below, of an interview between Australian journalist Richard Carleton and Kanafani, filmed in Beirut, was recently uncovered by the journalist’s son, James Carlton, and distributed on Facebook:


The video has been widely shared and distributed. Comrade Kanafani was assassinated in 1972 by a car bombplaced by the Mossad at his home in Beirut, alongside his niece Lamis. A full transcript of the video is below, provided by comrades:

Interview with Ghassan Kanafani by Richard Carleton for Australian TV

Commentator: ‘Beirut is the most Westernized of all Arab capitals. The evidence of the French colonial period here is as stark as it is in Quebec. In the days of the French, Beirut was the Mediterranean tourist paradise. Still, there are traces of this slowly disappearing past spender. But as surely as the Middle East turmoil keeps away the tourists, it keeps away the business too. Especially the banking business that has made Beirut the financial capital of the Middle East. Now, the Lebanese army has tanks and armored cars permanently stationed on the footpaths outside all bank buildings in the capital. Taking the place of the timid business executive in Beirut, a new business has developed – revolution. Palestinian revolution.

Palestinian guerillas in Beirut are not like the Vietcong. Here, they are in no way illicit. They are totally legitimate. In Beirut’s main street, the biggest guerilla movement has a three story office building complete with all amenities. It is as modern as any in Sydney. But the machine gun toting guerillas standing guard outside told me ‘no photos’, and there was no arguing. Of the eleven Palestinian guerilla movements, the most radical of all is the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the PFLP. The Popular Front is now so well organized that it even has its own daily newspaper with a claim circulation of 23.000. It was the Popular Front that hijacked and blew up three jet aircrafts at Revolution Airport at the Jordanian desert. And it was the Popular Front that dynamited the Pan-American jumbo at Cairo.

The Beirut leader of the Popular Front is Ghassan Kanafani. He was born in Palestine but fled in 1948, as he puts it, from Zionist terror. Since then, he has been plotting the destruction of both the Zionists and the reactionary Arabs.’

Kanafani: ‘What I know really is that the history of the world is always the history of weak people fighting strong people. Of weak people who have a correct case fighting strong people who use their strength to exploit the weak.’

C: ‘Turn to the fighting that has been going on in Jordan in the recent weeks. Your organization, that has been on one side of the fight, what has it achieved?’

K: ‘One thing: that we have a case to fight for. That is very much. This people, the Palestinian people, prefer to die standing than to lose its case. We achieved proving that the king (of Jordan) is wrong. We achieved proving that this nation is going to continue fighting until victory. We achieved that our people can never be defeated. We achieved teaching every single person in this world that we are a small brave nation who are going to fight until the last drop of blood to put justice for ourselves, after the world failed in giving it to us. This is what we achieved.’

C: ‘It does seem that the war, the civil war (in Jordan) has been quite fruitless…’

Kanafani interrupts: ‘It is not a civil war. It is a people themselves against a fascist government which you are defending just because King Hussain (of Jordan) has a Arab passport. It is not a civil war.’

C: ‘Or a conflict…’

Kanafani interrupts again: ‘It is not a conflict. It is a liberation movement fighting for justice.’

C: ‘Well, whatever if might be…’

Kanafani interrupts again: ‘It is not “whatever”. Because this is where the problem starts. Because this is what makes you ask all your questions. This is exactly where the problem starts. This is a people who is discriminated is fighting for their rights. This is the story. If you will say it is a civil war then your questions are justified. If it is a conflict then of course it is a surprise to know what is happening.’

C: ‘Why won’t your organization engage in peace talks with the Israelis?’

K: ‘You don’t mean exactly “peace talks”. You mean capitulation. Surrendering.

C: ‘Why not just talk?’

K: ‘Talk to whom?’

C: ‘Talk to the Israeli leaders.’

K: ‘That is kind of a conversation between the sword and the neck, you mean?’

C: ‘Well, if there are no swords and no guns in the room, you could still talk.’

K: ‘No. I have never seen any talk between a colonialist and a national liberation movement.’

C: ‘But despite this, why not talk?’

K: ‘Talk about what?’

C: ‘Talk about the possibility of not fighting.’

K: ‘Not fighting for what?’

C: ‘No fighting at all. No matter what for.’

K: ‘People usually fight for something. And they stop fighting for something. So you can’t even tell me why we should speak about what. Why should we talk about stopping to fight?’

C: ‘Talk to stop fighting to stop the death and the misery, the destruction and the pain.’

K: ‘The misery and the destruction the pain and the death of whom?’

C: ‘Of Palestinians. Of Israelis. Of Arabs.’

K: ‘Of the Palestinian people who are uprooted, thrown in the camps, living in starvation, killed for twenty years and forbidden to use even the name “Palestinians”?’

C: ‘They are better that way than dead though.’

K: ‘Maybe to you. But to us, it’s not. To us, to liberate our country, to have dignity, to have respect, to have our mere human rights is something as essential as life itself.

C: ‘You call King Hussain a fascist. Who else amongst the Arab leaders are you totally opposed to?’

K: ‘We consider the Arab governments two kinds. Something we call reactionaries, who are completely connected with the imperialists, like King Hussain government, like Saudi Arabia government, like Moroccan government, Tunisian government. And then we have some other Arab governments which we call the military petit-bourgeoisie governments. That’s like Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Algeria and so on.

C: ‘Just to end with, let me get back to the hijacking of the aircraft. On reflection, do you that is now a mistake?’

K: ‘We did not make a mistake in hijacking in the context. We did one of the most correct things we ever did.